Utah mammals

Long-legged Myotis in Utah

Myotis volans

Native to Utah S3 Vulnerable in Utah

Not listed as nonindigenous in Utah by USGS NAS; native to its Utah range.

IUCN Red List status

  1. LC
  2. NT
  3. VU
  4. EN
  5. CR
  6. EW
  7. EX

LC – Least Concern

Widespread and abundant; not at risk.

Long-legged myotis roosting on tree bark with wings foldedAI-generated image: Long-legged myotis roosting on tree bark. No additional license-safe photograph of this species exists. This image was generated with AI from verified reference material and reviewed by our editorial team for accuracyAI-generated image: Long-legged myotis tucked under a loose bark flap. No additional license-safe photograph of this species exists. This image was generated with AI from verified reference material and reviewed by our editorial team for accuracy
Photo: Juan Cruzado Cortés · CC BY-SA 4.0Long-legged myotis roosting on tree bark with wings foldedAI-generated image No additional license-safe photograph of this species exists. This image was generated with AI from verified reference material and reviewed by our editorial team for accuracyLong-legged myotis roosting on tree barkAI-generated image No additional license-safe photograph of this species exists. This image was generated with AI from verified reference material and reviewed by our editorial team for accuracyLong-legged myotis tucked under a loose bark flap

Long-legged Myotis in Utah, by the numbers

Rare in Utah 119th most recorded of 141 mammals logged in Utah

197 occurrence records
3 with iNaturalist photos
May 29, 2024 Last seen in Utah

Records from 2000–2026.

197 total records count every Utah occurrence from GBIF and iNaturalist; the monthly chart covers the 193 records with a full observation date.

When to look for the Long-legged Myotis in Utah

Most sightings fall in July.

193 Utah occurrence records (iNaturalist and GBIF) by month of year, 2000–2026. Shows when the species is recorded, not a guarantee of presence.

Monthly Utah records (table)
MonthRecords
January1
February1
March0
April1
May25
June30
July79
August28
September19
October7
November2
December0

Monthly long-legged myotis occurrence records (iNaturalist and GBIF) in Utah, 2000–2026.

Seasonality

Year-round in Utah, with recorded sightings peaking in July.

Occurrence map

Where Long-legged Myotis has been recorded in Utah

197 records mapped · zoom and drag to explore

197 Utah records mapped

Notable places to look

Park, forest, or monumentiNaturalist records
Capitol Reef National Park 12
Bryce Canyon National Park 6
Bears Ears National Monument 5
Dinosaur National Monument 2
Timpanogos Cave National Monument 2
Cedar Breaks National Monument 1
Dixie National Forest 1
Utah State Department of Wildlife Resources 178 1

Protected places with the most long-legged myotis sightings, from the USGS Protected Areas Database plus named mountain ranges, good spots to look, not a full breakdown, so they don't sum to the total.

Where it's recorded in Utah

CountyRecords
Garfield County 36
San Juan County 33
Uintah County 23
Wayne County 13
Juab County 11
Box Elder County 10
Rich County 9
Daggett County 8
Utah County 7
Millard County 6
Tooele County 6
Emery County 5
13 other counties 30

The complete county distribution, spread across 25 Utah counties. Every occurrence record falls in one county, so these sum to the total. Counties from GBIF and US Census boundaries.

Long-legged myotis records in Utah trace the state’s conifer forest belt: the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache, Dixie, and Fishlake national forests, each holding the loose bark and tree cavities this bat favors as summer roosts. It’s a fast, strong-flying hunter that keeps working cold nights long after most bats have quit, which fits its presence at higher, cooler forest elevations.

Utah’s 197 recorded sightings are heavily weighted toward midsummer, with July alone accounting for 79, well ahead of June’s 30 and May’s 25. Only three of those records came from iNaturalist; the rest are GBIF specimen and survey data, consistent with a species detected mostly through targeted bat surveys rather than casual sightings.

NatureServe ranks the long-legged myotis S3, Vulnerable, in Utah, a status worth weighing against how thin the observation record actually is.

Occurrence data from iNaturalist and GBIF.

Long-legged myotis roosting on tree bark with wings folded
Full species profile Long-legged Myotis Myotis volans Size 8.3–10.6 cm3.3–4.2 in Weight 6–10 g0.2–0.4 oz Lifespan 21 yr View the full profile

More mammals in Utah in the atlas

Data & sources

The data and visualizations on this page draw on these open sources:

  • GBIFCC-BY 4.0occurrence records behind the range map, elevation, and record counts
  • iNaturalistCC0 / CC-BY / CC-BY-SAobservations, photos, and audio recordings
  • NatureServe ExplorerCC-BYthe state conservation rank
  • IUCN Red Listattributed factthe global conservation status
  • USGS NASpublic domainnative / introduced status
  • Natural Earthpublic domainthe relief basemap
  • USFSpublic domainnational-forest boundaries
  • USGS Protected Areas Databasepublic domainthe named parks, forests, and refuges behind "notable places to look"